AWIN First 2012-08-29

News

U.S. airlines face an additional $500 million in costs if proposed regulations are enacted into law, Airlines for America (A4A) says in its latest industry review.
These new costs include $330 million from proposed training regulations, $150 million from airport hydrant fueling systems regulations and $143 million from fuel-tank inerting regulations. Even more costs could be added from proposed rules governing the transport of lithium batteries, but A4A does not quantify the potential expenses from such legislation....More

China Southern Airlines, struggling to find a suitable route for its Airbus A380s, is considering a proposal from Air China to fly the aircraft jointly between Paris and Beijing.
The proposal faces likely opposition from Air France-KLM, a partner of China Southern in the SkyTeam alliance that competes with Air China’s Boeing 777-300ER service on the route, say Chinese airline industry sources....More

The European Commission is investigating the proposed takeover of Aer Lingus by Irish rival Ryanair, and from comments made today by the commission it appears there is a concern the deal could be anti-competitive. (Photo: Aer Lingus)...More

The European Commission (EC) is investigating the proposed takeover of Aer Lingus by Irish rival Ryanair, and from comments made today by the commission it appears there is a concern the deal could be anti-competitive.
“On a large number of routes, mainly out of Ireland, the two airlines are each other’s closest competitors and barriers to entry appear to be high,” the EC wrote in a statement on Wednesday....More

Executive AirShare, the Kansas City-based “regional” fractional provider, is expanding its business portfolio with two new programs that fill a gap between fractional programs and the jet card business.
Unlike fractional, under which owners buy a stake in an aircraft, Executive AirShare’s new programs are based on a leasing structure.
The “Launch” program calls for a one-time payment ($99,895) that provides up to 25 days or 60 flights over up to a two yr. period. Like most fractional programs, the hourly rates are billed separately....More

Executive AirShare, the Kansas City-based “regional” fractional provider, is expanding its business portfolio with two new programs that fill a gap between fractional programs and the jet card business. (Photo: Embraer)...More

FAA is laying the groundwork to implement the new “Pilot’s Bill of Rights,” beginning with a new website that will facilitate access to air traffic data. President Obama Aug. 3 signed Sen. Jim Inhofe’s ( R-Okla .) Pilot’s Bill of Rights (S.1335) into law, following House passage late last month and Senate passage in June.
Nearly two-thirds of the Senate co-sponsored the bill, which strengthens protections of pilots’ rights in cases of FAA enforcement actions....More

American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines and United Airlines are competing for a single available route for daily service to Tokyo’s close-in Haneda Airport.
The route became available because of Delta’s request for U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) permission to switch one of its two Haneda routes from Detroit to Seattle. Rather than grant that request, the DOT decided to hold a new route selection proceeding, for which Delta or any other U.S. carrier could apply....More

BERLIN - German researchers are pleased so far with the results of the most recent flight of their rocket-boosted hypersonic demonstrator, which reached 11 times the speed of sound. (Photo: DLR)...More

TEL AVIV - Israeli intelligence planners are trying to predict how and when Syria’s government will fall, and who will be there to protect or loot the country’s military equipment, particularly Syria’s stock of chemical weapons, ballistic missiles and long-range, anti-aircraft missiles....More

NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is revealing energetic, previously unobserved supermassive black holes, including a new mega-powerful class of objects that appear to have influenced the transformation of galaxies....More

The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is focusing its research and technology investment on a variety of technologies meant to develop better power sources, advanced cyber capabilities and communications-related equipment, according to the agency’s fiscal 2012 budget request justification...More

WASHINGTON - The Republicans’ 2012 platform, approved during the party’s presidential nominating convention in Tampa, Fla., this week, lashes out at President Obama on many fronts, including the U.S. Air Force’s aircraft reductions. (C-27J photo: Alenia Aeronautica)...More

A Michigan lab is exploring an idea for generating energy from low-frequency ambient sound using tiny ceramic piezoelectric generators -- a concept of interest to military planners looking for ever-smaller, cheaper and more durable power sources for sensors....More

LOS ANGELES - Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is modifying its manufacturing flow at Hawthorne, Calif., as part of plans to boost production of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rocket cores to 40 per year. (Photo: SpaceX)...More

India’s state-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) and French aerospace and electronics firm Thales are joining forces to make civilian and military radars.
Both BEL and Thales have approved the formation of a joint venture company (JVC), subject to statutory approval by the governments of India and France....More

U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) has come up with a new twist on proven borescope engine-inspection technology.
While previous engine-inspection borescopes used by the Navy detected engine debris with a rigid probe and generated low-quality, black-and-white pictures, Naviar’s Common Video Borescope Set, or CVBS has a 2-meter long, flexible, insertion tube that captures photos and video images on a 3.7-in. color screen. Technicians will use a joystick to maneuver the device’s insertion tube, giving them a 360-deg. view of hard-to-see places....More

News

FAA is laying the groundwork to implement the new “Pilot’s Bill of Rights,” beginning with a new website that will facilitate access to air traffic data. President Obama Aug. 3 signed Sen. Jim Inhofe’s ( R-Okla .) Pilot’s Bill of Rights (S.1335) into law, following House passage late last month and Senate passage in June.
Nearly two-thirds of the Senate co-sponsored the bill, which strengthens protections of pilots’ rights in cases of FAA enforcement actions....More

The European Commission is investigating the proposed takeover of Aer Lingus by Irish rival Ryanair, and from comments made today by the commission it appears there is a concern the deal could be anti-competitive. (Photo: Aer Lingus)...More

A Michigan lab is exploring an idea for generating energy from low-frequency ambient sound using tiny ceramic piezoelectric generators -- a concept of interest to military planners looking for ever-smaller, cheaper and more durable power sources for sensors....More

LOS ANGELES - Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is modifying its manufacturing flow at Hawthorne, Calif., as part of plans to boost production of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rocket cores to 40 per year. (Photo: SpaceX)...More

NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is revealing energetic, previously unobserved supermassive black holes, including a new mega-powerful class of objects that appear to have influenced the transformation of galaxies....More

WASHINGTON - The Republicans’ 2012 platform, approved during the party’s presidential nominating convention in Tampa, Fla., this week, lashes out at President Obama on many fronts, including the U.S. Air Force’s aircraft reductions. (C-27J photo: Alenia Aeronautica)...More

BERLIN - German researchers are pleased so far with the results of the most recent flight of their rocket-boosted hypersonic demonstrator, which reached 11 times the speed of sound. (Photo: DLR)...More

American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines and United Airlines are competing for a single available route for daily service to Tokyo’s close-in Haneda Airport.
The route became available because of Delta’s request for U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) permission to switch one of its two Haneda routes from Detroit to Seattle. Rather than grant that request, the DOT decided to hold a new route selection proceeding, for which Delta or any other U.S. carrier could apply....More

India’s state-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) and French aerospace and electronics firm Thales are joining forces to make civilian and military radars.
Both BEL and Thales have approved the formation of a joint venture company (JVC), subject to statutory approval by the governments of India and France....More

Executive AirShare, the Kansas City-based “regional” fractional provider, is expanding its business portfolio with two new programs that fill a gap between fractional programs and the jet card business.
Unlike fractional, under which owners buy a stake in an aircraft, Executive AirShare’s new programs are based on a leasing structure.
The “Launch” program calls for a one-time payment ($99,895) that provides up to 25 days or 60 flights over up to a two yr. period. Like most fractional programs, the hourly rates are billed separately....More

Executive AirShare, the Kansas City-based “regional” fractional provider, is expanding its business portfolio with two new programs that fill a gap between fractional programs and the jet card business. (Photo: Embraer)...More

The European Commission (EC) is investigating the proposed takeover of Aer Lingus by Irish rival Ryanair, and from comments made today by the commission it appears there is a concern the deal could be anti-competitive.
“On a large number of routes, mainly out of Ireland, the two airlines are each other’s closest competitors and barriers to entry appear to be high,” the EC wrote in a statement on Wednesday....More

China Southern Airlines, struggling to find a suitable route for its Airbus A380s, is considering a proposal from Air China to fly the aircraft jointly between Paris and Beijing.
The proposal faces likely opposition from Air France-KLM, a partner of China Southern in the SkyTeam alliance that competes with Air China’s Boeing 777-300ER service on the route, say Chinese airline industry sources....More

TEL AVIV - Israeli intelligence planners are trying to predict how and when Syria’s government will fall, and who will be there to protect or loot the country’s military equipment, particularly Syria’s stock of chemical weapons, ballistic missiles and long-range, anti-aircraft missiles....More

U.S. airlines face an additional $500 million in costs if proposed regulations are enacted into law, Airlines for America (A4A) says in its latest industry review.
These new costs include $330 million from proposed training regulations, $150 million from airport hydrant fueling systems regulations and $143 million from fuel-tank inerting regulations. Even more costs could be added from proposed rules governing the transport of lithium batteries, but A4A does not quantify the potential expenses from such legislation....More

U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) has come up with a new twist on proven borescope engine-inspection technology.
While previous engine-inspection borescopes used by the Navy detected engine debris with a rigid probe and generated low-quality, black-and-white pictures, Naviar’s Common Video Borescope Set, or CVBS has a 2-meter long, flexible, insertion tube that captures photos and video images on a 3.7-in. color screen. Technicians will use a joystick to maneuver the device’s insertion tube, giving them a 360-deg. view of hard-to-see places....More

The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is focusing its research and technology investment on a variety of technologies meant to develop better power sources, advanced cyber capabilities and communications-related equipment, according to the agency’s fiscal 2012 budget request justification...More

Blogs

A Saudi-led coalition of Middle Eastern and African states has started a major air campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen. We take a look at the air assets assembled for Operation Decisive Storm....More

"He will do great," predicted NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore, who returned to Earth after 5 1/2 months on the ISS earlier this month. Wilmore watched Scott Kelly's lift off from NASA's Mission Control in Houston....More

Cold War kids like me still remember the Open Skies treaty, the 1992 agreement by members of NATO and the then Warsaw Pact to allow observation flights over their territory as a confidence-building measure....More

"We are discovering all kinds of exotic planets, worlds that have oceans of molten rock, worlds that have not one but two stars rising in the East and setting in the West," said Natalie Batalha, Kepler mission scientist....More

As the U.S. Marine Corps continues to tack back to its expeditionary core and the U.S. remains on course for its Asia-Pacific rebalance, the question of the force’s relevance is again coming to the fore....More